Bed and platen impression press with adjustable dwell control means



Nov. 26, 1968 c, lRON 3,412,678

BED AND PLATEN IMPRESS PRESS WITH ADJUSTABLE DWELL CONTROL MEANS Filed Jan. 19, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 3) 44 ENTOR EDWARD c. Ema

Nov. 26, 1968 E. c. BIRON 3,412,678

BED AND PLATEN IMPRESSION PRESS WITH ADJUSTABLE I DWELL CONTROL MEANS Filed Jan. 19, 1967 3 Sheets-Shem 34 mvmon EDWARD C. B/RON ATTORNEYS Nov. 26, 1968 E. c. BIRON 3,412,678

BED AND PLATEN IMPRESSION PRESS WITH ADJUSTABLE DWELL CONTROL MEANS Filed Jan. 19, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 sz-za 82 95 96 9 DRIVE MOTOR |o0 H ee ml 93 "98 0 v VAC. MOTOR INVENTOR EDWARD C. B/RO/V ATTORNEYS United States Patent M BED AND PLATEN IMPRESSION PRESS WITH ADJUSTABLE DWELL CONTROL MEANS Edward C. Biron, Pittsfield, Mass., assignor to The Chandler & Price Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Filed Jan. 19, 1967, Ser. No. 610,415 9 Claims. (Cl. 101-287) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A press for embossing, hot roll leafing, printing, etc., having a disconnect drive for holding the press on impression for a predetermined length of time and incorporating improved work holding and handling mechanisms operating in synchronism with the press.

This invention relates generally as indicated to a press and more particularly to a platen press for embossing, ihot roll leafing, and like operations. In embossing or hot roll leafing operations, to perform the correct operation on the work, the press must be held closed for a predetermined amount of time if the operation involves heated dies. Attempts have been made to modify continuously operating presses to provide a dwell for increased impression periods. One such attempt is seen in United States Letters Patent No. 3,166,009 to Brandtjen wherein a lost motion or yielding connection is built into the press itself, but this can be seen to lack ease of adjustability. It is also seen that the length of the hold-on or dwell is also directly related to the speed of the press.

It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide a platen press which can be held on impression for a preselected period of time.

Another principal object is the provision of a platen press which can be operated at optimum speed regardless of the dwell period selected.

A further object is the provision of a platen press having a continuous drive which can be instantly disconnected and then reconnected after a preselected period of time without substantial loss of drive torque.

A still further object is the provision of an automatic platen press having a dwell-on-impressi on period which may be preselected and which includes a completely automatic Work holding and handling mechanism operated in synchronism with the press regardless of the dwell period selected.

Another object is the provision of a completely automatic heavy-duty die-embossing press having an optional impression dwell of a preselected period.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail a certain illustrative embodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but one of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

FIG. 1 is an end elevation of a press in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the press of FIG. 1 seen substantially from the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged simplified fragmentary sectional view illustrating the position of the bed and platen during the dwell period;

3,412,678 Patented Nov. 26, 1968 FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 illustrating the press open and the work being removed from the platen;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary schematic diagram of the pneumatic system for feeding, holding, and delivering the work from the press; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic wiring diagram illustrating the operational cycle of the press.

Referring now to the annexed drawings and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is illustrated a press in accordance with the present invention. Such press comprises a main frame 1 to each side of which are secured castings 2 and 3 by suitable fasteners 4 which castings include at their outer ends upstanding arms 5 and 6, respectively, terminating in aligned ihubs 7 and 8 in which there is journalled drive or pinion shaft 9 extending completely through the machine and, of course, through the main frame 1.

On the outboard side of the machine or to the left as seen in FIG. 1, a flywheel 11 is connected to the shaft 9 through magnetic clutch 12. On the inboard or drive side of the housing seen at the right in FIG. 1, flywheel 13 and drive pulley 14 are connected to the shaft by magnetic clutch 15. The pulley 14 is illustrated as having two V-belts 16 trained thereabout and also about the pulley 17 on the output shaft 18 of drive unit 19 which includes speed regulator 20. The drive unit may be powered by a 220 volt 3 phase motor. The drive unit 19 may be mounted on bracket 21 and the adjustments seen in FIG. 2 may provide proper belt tension. As seen in FIG. 1, a magnetic brake 22 is mounted on the shaft 9 and such brake may be supported against rotation by bracket 23 secured to the casting 3.

Referring now additionally to FIGS. 3 and 4, the pinion shaft 9 has secured thereto two pinions 24 each of which is respectively in mesh with bull gears 25 and 26 mounted on the ends of shaft 27 externally of the frame 1 supporting such shaft. The frame 1 also supports a somewhat shorter platen pivot shaft 28 on which platen 29 is mounted. Secured to the platen and extending from the shaft 28 is a rocker arm 30 having a cam follower 31 projecting from the end thereof. The follower 31 rides in cam slot 32 in the bull gear 26 and as the gear rotates, the platen pivots from the impression position shown in FIG. 3 to the feed and deliver position shown in FIG. 4. The inner end of the platen is provided with 'a circular offset portion 33 to clear the gear shaft 27 in the closed position of the press as seen in FIG. 3. A rocker lock 34 is pivoted to the frame at 35 and includes a stop 36 which locks the platen in the position shown in FIG. 3 as the press closes. The rocker lock is provided with an extension 37 having a cam follower 38 thereon which is resiliently held against a cam, not shown, mounted on the shaft 27 which pivots the rocker lock to the position shown in FIG. 4 to clear the platen for rocking to the open position.

Exteriorly of each of the bull gears 25 and 26, connecting links 40 and 41 extend to shaft 42 projecting through the back of the bed or chase 43. The bed is pivoted at its lower end at 44 to the main base or frame 1 as seen in FIG. 2. Accordingly as the main drive or bull gears rotate, the bed will be rocked about its lower pivot 44 to and from the open position of FIG. 4 and the closed position of FIG. 3.

As seen in FIG. 1, the machine includes a feed table 46 and a delivery table 47. The feed table 46 includes a slightly inclined platform 48 on which the work is stacked on edge with the back end of the stack being supported by angles 49 and 50 mounted on the parallel chain drives shown at 51 and 52. These chains are driven by sprockets on the end shafts shown more clearly in FIG. 2 from the bevel gearing from shaft 53 which .in turn driven through shaft 54 from ratchet and pawl driven meter box 55. A

feeder arm 56 which oscillates on shaft 57 engages the top of the stack in the feed table and controls the ratchetpawl engagement in the meter box 55 thus to control the extent of rotation of the drive shafts 54, 53, etc. The pawl of the meter box is driven by a cam, not shown, on a cam shaft driven in synchronism with the machine. The shaft 53 may be driven manually by the crank indicated at 58.

Sucker tips, not shown, mounted on stanchion 59, also seen in FIG. 2, engage the lower leading edge of the topmost work on the feed table 46 and place the same on the platen. As seen more clearly in FIG. 4, the main casting of the platen 29 has secured thereto a plate 60 on which the work is actually placed. The lower edge of the plate 60 secured to the platen includes a gripper bar 61 and gauge pins 62. A side gauge pin 63 is also secured to the plate. The feed sucker tips will place work into engagement with the bottom gauge pins 62 and will then release the work. The work is then slid against the side gauge pin 63 by register 64 which pivots toward the viewer as seen in FIG. 4.

Referring briefly to FIG. 5, the plate 60, which acts as the platen of the press, has a manifold 65 connected thereto to which a flexible air hose 66 is connected. The plate 60 is divided into chambers and the top work supporting surface thereof is provided with a plurality of holes 67. The line 66, as will be discussed, is connected to a valve and air pressure (blast) or vacuum may be connected to the platen plate 60. With vacuum, the work will be held firmly flatly on the plate as the press closes. The bed 43 is provided with a mounting plate 68 to which a heating plate or die 69 is secured. The die 69 may be electrically heated and thermostat controlled.

With the work in position on the platen plate 60 and the feed sucker tips retracted, the press then closes to the FIG. 3 position. As the press approaches its closed position, an adjustable stop 70 on the platen 29 engages limit switch 71 on the bed. When the limit switch 71 trips, it will function to hold the moving parts of the machine seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 in the position shown in FIG. 3 for a preselected period of time. How this is accomplished will be described in connection with FIG. 6.

After such preselected period of time, the press then opens to the position shown in FIG. 4 and delivery sucker tips indicated at 73 which are mounted on bracket 74 seen in FIG. 1 for movement toward and away from the viewer in such FIG. 1 move above the work as seen in FIG. 4. The vacuum holding the work to the platen plate 60 is now converted to an air blast and this elevates the Work on a cushion of air to be engaged by the sucker tips 73 to which vacuum is applied. The sucker tips 73 are now retracted to transfer the finished work W to the delivery table 47.

Referring now again to FIG. 1, the delivery table 47 drops during the operation as the angles 49 and 50 advance during the operation. The delivery table is driven through a rack and pinion transmission 76 by shaft 77, which like the shaft 54, is also driven by the meter box 55. The delivery table may be raised and lowered by the manual crank 78.

Also seen in FIG. 1 is the vacuum pump 80 driven by motor 81 and valve cam shaft 82 operating three air valves located at 83. The valves are actuated from the cam shaft through lever arms 84. The valve shaft 82 is driven from the feed cam box which is in turn driven from the pinion shaft 9 in synchronism with the cycle of the machine.

The blast and vacuum valves are shown schematically in FIG. 5. The valve 86 may supply the vacuum to the feed sucker tips which transfer the work from the feed table 46 to the platen; the valve 87 supplies vacuum to the delivery sucker tips 73 which catch the work as it is blasted from the platen plate 60 and transfer the same to the delivery table 47; and valve 88, as illustrated, is connected to the flexible line 66 connected to the manifold 65 leading to the platen plate 60. The valve 88 is also connected through line 89 to the outlet or blast side of the pump 80.

Each of the valves is, of course, connected to the v acuum side of the pump through the line 90 and also each valve is provided with a vent port. During the dwell period or when the press is in the FIG. 3 position, the valve 88 will be connected to the vacuum side of pump 80.

Operation Referring now to FIG. 6, a transformer 92 supplies operating voltage to mains 93 and 94 across which the illustrated control elements are connected. A stop button 95 and start button 96 are arranged in series with a drive motor control 97 and such control in conventional manner will close the three motor control contacts for the drive motor for the drive unit 19 as well as a holding contact 98. The drive motor will generally be energized after the operator has set up the machine for operation and this will then rotate the pulley 14 and flywheel 13 with the clutches 12 and 15 deenergized and the brake 22 energized. An initially slow start up speed is obtained through the control 20.

A cycle start push button 99 is in series with a stop button 100 which energizes vacuum motor control 101 and cycle start relay 102. The position of the start buttons is shown in FIG. 1. The control 101 energizes the vacuum motor 81 and also a holding contact 103. The relay 102 closes contacts 104 and 105 and opens contacts 106. This energizes clutch solenoids 107 and 108 for the clutches 12 and 15, respectively and deenergizes brake solenoid 109 releasing brake 22. The energization of the clutches connects the shaft 9 to the drive unit 19 and the press moves into operation. It is understood that the press may be operated through a number of cycles to be brought up to speed without the limit switch 71 being engaged and with certain other adjustments being made such as the control of the impression pressures, the vacuum and blast pressures, etc. During this initial adjustment period, the flywheels 11 and 13 will be brought up to operating speed.

With the limit switch 71 operative, as the press moves to the FIG. 3 position, the contacts 110, 111, 112 and 113 tripped by the limit switch will then change position simultaneously. The contacts 110 will deenergize through control 107 clutch 12 disconnecting flywheel 11 from pinion shaft 9 and the contacts 111 will deenergize clutch 15 through control 108 disconnecting flywheel 13 and drive pulley 14 from the pinion shaft 9. Contacts 112 will close energizing brake 22 through control 109 and contacts 113 will close energizing timer 114. This stops the press in the closed position shown in FIG. 3. When the timer 114 times out, it closes contacts 115 and 116 reenergizing the clutches 12 and 15 and simultaneously opens contacts 117 deenergizing brake 22. The timer 114 may, for example, be a Eagle Cycle Flex timer which can be set manually for a preselected period. For example, in a hot die embossing press, a dwell period of five seconds may be sufficient. When the clutches are energized and the brake deenergized, the machine then moves off its position shown in FIG. 3 repositioning the contacts of the limit switch 71 in the position illustrated in FIG. 6. After the limit switch contacts are thus repositioned, the timer contacts then return to the position illustrated.

During the dwell occasioned by the deenergization of the clutches and the energization of the brake, the flywheel 11 freewheels and the flywheel 13 and the pulley continues to be driven by the motor. During the five second.

or whatever dwell period selected, it will be understood that the speed of the flywheel 11 will not be appreciably -less than that of the flywheel 13 and accordingly when the clutches are reenergized and the brake 22 deenergized, there will be little torque strain on the shaft 9. The continued rotation of the flywheels also substantially reduces the load on the drive unit 19 when the press starts to open following the dwell period thus permitting a less costly drive unit than would otherwise be required.

The feed and delivery mechanism will, of course, operate during the required portion of the complete cycle and the vacuum to the platen plate 60 will commence following the proper positioning of the work on the platen plate and will continue on through the dwell period until the platen is in the position shown in FIG. 4. At that time, the valve 88 will be shifted converting the vacuum in the platen plate to a blast which will lift the work W to the position shown in FIG. 4 for removal to the delivery table by the sucker tips 73. During the dwell, the valve 88 will be in the position connecting the vacuum line 90 to the line 66 since the shaft 82 will stop during the dwell, it being driven from the pinion shaft 9.

It can now be seen that there is provided a fully automatic platen press wherein the work can be held on impression for a preselected period of time and wherein the period of the dwell does not affect that portion of the automatic wor'k handling mechanism which maintains the work on the platen.

Other modes of applying the principles of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of such be employed.

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. A platen press having a bed and platen, drive means operative to move the bed and platen together and apart comprising a drive shaft, flywheels on opposite ends of said shaft, clutches connecting said flywheels to said shaft, a drive unit connected to one of said flywheels, a brake for said shaft, and means responsive to the coming together of said bed and platen operative to disconnect said clutches, and apply said brake, and hold said bed and platen together while one flywheel continues to be driven by said drive unit and the other flywheels.

2. A platen press as set forth in claim 1 including means responsive to a preselected period of time operative to connect said clutches and release said brake to move said bed and platen apart.

3. A platen press as set forth in claim 1 including automatic feed means, said automatic feed means including vacuum means operative to hold the work to said platen during the period said clutches are disconnected and said brake applied.

4. A platen press as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means responsive to the coming together of said bed and platen operative to disconnect said clutches and apply said brake comprises a limit switch on said bed positioned to be tripped by the juxtaposition of said bed and platen.

5. A platen press as set forth in claim 1 including automatic feed and delivery means which includes a platen having a plurality of apertures in the work surface thereof, means to apply vacuum to said apertures during the period said clutches are disconnected and said brake applied, and means to convert said vacuum to air blast after the press is opened to facilitate the transfer of the work to said delivery means.

6. A platen press and the like comprising a bed, a platen, automatic work handling means operative first to place work on said platen, hold work on said platen, and then remove work from said platen, drive means operative to move said bed and platen together and away from each other to open and close the press and drive said work handling means in synchronism therewith, means responsive to the closing of said press operative to disconnect said drive means and hold the press closed for a preselected period; a drive shaft for said press, clutch means connecting said drive shaft and said drive means, brake means for said shaft operative to stop rotation of said shaft when said clutch means is disconnected, and adjustable timer means to control the preselected period of holding the press closed.

7. A platen press as set forth in claim 6 including switch means on said bed responsive to the presence of said platen thereagainst operative to deenergize said clutch means and energize said bra'ke.

8. A platen press as set forth in claim 6 wherein said automatic work handling means operative to hold work on said platen comprises a perforated platen and an air line conected thereto, and means operative to apply vacuum to said air line at least during that portion of the cycle of the press when the press is closed.

9. A platen press as set forth in claim 8 including means operative to convert from vacuum to air blast in said line as the press opens to facilitate the removal of the work from the platen.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,088,377 7/1937 Kluge et al 101287 2,091,322 8/1937 Kluge et al 101-287 2,277,363 3/ 1942 Herbers 101-27 X 2,429,874 10/1947 Friel 101287 2,570,699 10/1951 Moody 101-408 2,844,094 7/1958 Gruver 10127 X 2,960,024 11/ 1960 Kingsley 101-27 3,166,009 1/196 5 Brandtjen 10110 WILLIAM B. PENN, Primry Examiner. 

